Sen. Charles Schumer was the subject of a cartoon that some saw as questioning his loyalty to the United States. (Andrew Burton/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Congress and the American people are focused on what everyone agrees is a historic, serious and consequential foreign policy decision — the fate of the nuclear deal with Iran. While we all hope for a debate based on substance and conducted with civility, the truth… Read more »
Rep. Jerrold Nadler (Wikimedia Commons)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — This month, there is one question concerning the future safety and security of the United States and Israel: the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action agreed upon between the six world powers and Iran. We must decide what costs and risks are acceptable in order to avert… Read more »
Israelis participating in a memorial service in Jerusalem for Shira Banki, who was fatally wounded in an attack at Jerusalem’s gay pride parade, Aug. 2, 2015. (Garrett Mills/Flash90)
JERUSALEM (JTA) — This past month, as our attention was focused on watching the developing Iran deal, the situation in Israel has taken a deeply troubling turn. First, a woman wearing a kippah was detained by the police for attempting to worship at the Western Wall. Then David Azoulay,… Read more »
Having just returned from several weeks in Israel, I am struck by the fact that a very significant aspect of the Iran debate is receiving very little attention in the American news media: the fact that the mainstream Israeli left is just as strongly opposed to the agreement as… Read more »
In September 2013, I gathered with a group of friends to share feelings and reflections on the suicide death of one our friends, Deb Tambor, who had been struggling with a variety of issues related to leaving the insular Hasidic Jewish world. Next to me sat Faigy Mayer, a… Read more »
Activists demonstrating in Washington, D.C., on behalf of the estimated 20,000 Dominicans of Haitian descent who were stripped of their citizenship and are facing expulsion, June 22, 2015. (Alex Wong/Getty Images)
NEW YORK (JTA) — Fewer than 800 miles from our shores, a deeply disturbing crisis is unfolding as tens of thousands of citizens of the Dominican Republic face deportation from their country simply because of their heritage. Tragically, people of Haitian descent who were born in the Dominican Republic… Read more »
I recently wrote an article outlining how and why the new well-funded Adelson/Netanyahu/Republican/Evangelical coalition has emerged as the new pro-Israel voice in the U.S. — supplanting the traditional majority of American Jews who are increasingly demonized for expressing honest and heartfelt concerns about the policies and statements of the… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) – Admit it: You might be wrong. Yes, you have a strong view about whether the nuclear deal signed with Iran last week will spell catastrophe for Israel, or whether it’s the best of a range of bad options for dealing with Iran’s apparent pursuit of a nuclear weapon.… Read more »
Giacinto-Boulos Marcuzzo, the Roman Catholic auxiliary bishop of the Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, inspecting the torched Church of the Multiplication in the Galilee, June 18, 2015. (Basel Awidat/Flash90)
NEW YORK (JTA) — The burning a few weeks ago of the Church of the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes, a historic church in the Galilee region of Tabgha built on the foundations of a sixth-century house of worship, is not the first act of evil allegedly carried… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) — Today is the last day of my long tenure as national director of the Anti-Defamation League. It has been a highly satisfactory and meaningful 28 years as director and 50 years as a professional at this prestigious organization. So why am I choosing to write… Read more »
NEW YORK (JTA) – When I was 24, an Orthodox matchmaker tried to set me up on a date with a man older than my parents. When I objected, she told me, “Stop being so picky. Not many guys are willing to consider a black girl.” As an African-American… Read more »
Few people who are now furiously debating the Iranian deal have actually read the 160 pages of the agreement. I doubt it if they will ever do, and anyway, it will not sway them from their entrenched positions. Those who support it would stick to what President Obama has… Read more »
Anniversaries always present us with an opportunity to reflect on things past, and try to learn lessons from history. It was British military thinker and historian B.H. Liddell Hart who said that, “The only thing you can learn from history is that you can’t learn from history.” However, he… Read more »
Many Americans who regularly engage with the Israel “issue” feel it. I feel it. There is a sense in my Christian and Jewish social circles that Israel as a bipartisan issue among Americans is becoming a Republican-dominated issue that will eventually (if it hasn’t already) drive out Democrats. At… Read more »
Rabbi Avi Weiss, right, visiting Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, S.C., July 1, 2015. (Courtesy of Rabbi Shmuel Herzfeld)
CHARLESTON, S.C. (JTA) — My father died a few weeks ago. The hardest part of the shiva was when it ended. Friends and family were, by and large, no longer visiting. I was alone in pain and agony. I thought of this reality during my visit to the Emanuel… Read more »
(JTA) — Michael Oren is my friend. During his nearly five years as Israel’s ambassador to the United States, we’d speak on an almost daily basis. Often those phone calls would come at 3 or 4 a.m., Washington time, and Michael, enduring another sleepless night, would share his fears… Read more »
A same-sex marriage supporter waves a pride flag next to an altered street sign that reads "case closed!' while celebrating the U.S Supreme Court ruling regarding same-sex marriage on June 26, 2015 in San Francisco.(Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)
BOSTON (JTA) — Four years ago, I stood under a chuppah with the woman I was about to marry overlooking a valley in Massachusetts. I have an emotional memory of sweetness and joy from my wedding day, but I can’t recall many specific moments. What I do remember vividly… Read more »
Re “Supporting worshippers at Phoenix mosque, local Jews met with gratitude” (AJP, 6/12/2015): A beautiful story. I have two reflections. 1. Sarah (and her husband Marty) are not “converted Jews.” Although they were not born Jewish they are “full fledged” Jews; a “ger” — a convert — has all… Read more »
Robert N. Rosen CHARLESTON, S.C. (JTA) — The unspeakable murder of nine accomplished, beloved and respected African-American Charlestonians of faith in their own church on Wednesday has hit our city like an earthquake. These murders occurred in my neighborhood, across the street from Buist Academy, the public magnet school my daughter and… Read more »
A woman holds a sign during an interfaith candlelight vigil in solidarity with Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina outside Barclays Center on June 21, 2015 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. Nine people were fatally shot inside the historic African American church on June 17. Suspect Dylann Roof, 21, has been arrested and charged in the killings, which were racially motivated. (Kena Betancur/Getty Images)
CHARLESTON, S.C. (JTA) — A prominent Jewish Charlestonian’s inspiring response to the massacre last week at the Emanuel AME Church has circulated widely in recent days. Robert N. Rosen’s essay points to the best traditions of life in the city: tolerance, an attentiveness to history, and a powerful sense… Read more »
